Over the past five years in the 13th Five-Year Plan period, central China's Henan Province has helped guarantee food security for the entire country, and explored new ways to grow its economy. 

CGTN reporter Xia Ruixue took part in an exclusive interview with Zhou Ji, the province's executive vice governor, to discuss Henan's high-quality development for the next five years.

CGTN: Henan is one of China's major food-producing provinces. In the next five years, how is it aiming to improve farmers' yields and help guarantee food security?

Zhou: There's an old Chinese saying, "if central China has a good harvest, the whole country will have a sufficient supply." One of Henan's biggest advantages and competitive fields is grain production.

Another Chinese saying is "people won't panic if they have grain in hand." Our work will specifically focus on arable land and seed. Grain output will be increased by better utilization of arable land, and technological innovation. Arable land is the lifeblood of agriculture. We should protect it in the same way we do for cultural relics and giant pandas. We will work to retain a "red line" of 8 million hectares of arable land, and 6.8 million hectares of basic farmland. We'll work on high-standard farmland projects, working to develop more than 5 million hectares of farmland by the end of 2025.

CGTN: Henan has a large number of rural residents. Last year, all the people below poverty line were lifted out. But there's more to be done when it comes to rural vitalization. In what specific ways do Henan work to vitalize rural areas?

Zhou: There are 46,000 villages in Henan Province. Half the population lives in rural areas. There's another Chinese proverb – "the locomotive decides how fast a train runs." The levelheaded governance of grassroots officials decides how the countryside will look.

This year, a new round of elections will be carried out in rural areas. It's a good time to find more talents. We will introduce more capable people into the Party. We encourage them to help rural people obtain wealth through hard work. We will try our utmost to help rural people become wealthier and more knowledgeable, and make a better environment for them.

CGTN: Henan has a registered population of over 100-million people, but its urbanization rate is far below the national average. What measures will Henan take to promote new urban development?

Zhou: Henan's urbanization rate was 54.2 percent at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period. It's lower than the national average. It means we have room to improve. I admit it's our shortcoming, but I think it's also our potential.

First, Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan Province, is one of China's 10 national central cities. We should enhance its position in leading the whole province.

Second, more is to be done on developing the economy of our counties. Henan is one of the major food-producing provinces. It's populous. We have a large number of counties. So it's not enough to rely on big cities. Enhancing economic development in counties is our biggest potential.

In the process of urbanization, we must respect the plants and trees that nature has given us and protect the bricks and tiles that our ancestors have left us. So, each city should demonstrate the beauty of nature, as well as its history and modern civilization.

CGTN: Henan has a comprehensive industrial system. But it's not very well-structured. In what way will Henan keep transforming and upgrading its industrial structure, and how will it foster emerging industrial clusters?

Zhou: Henan has a solid economic foundation. Its industrial system covers almost all categories. High-quality development can be achieved through industrialization. But in Henan, enterprises in heavy industries account for 45 percent of its economy. That's a lot. So it's important to use our advantages to transform the industrial system.

We've been working on this for a while. Previous Party and government officials attached greater importance to it. Therefore, in the past five years, we have succeeded in expanding our equipment manufacturing and food processing industries to generate more than 1 trillion yuan. The added value of these emerging industries has increased from the previous 11.8 percent to today's 22.4 percent.